After being deemed unfit for military service (1940’s) on several occasions, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) manages to catch the attention of a German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who is working on a top secret research project to turn military personnel into super soldiers to aid the war effort. Rogers manages to get picked as the first test subject (after volunteering) and undergoes a transformation into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending the USA's ideals.
Was it good?
I have to admit that I was looking forward to seeing this film for a long time. Having missed it when it came out at the cinema I was eager to get hold of the Blu-ray version and catch up, but I have to say I was a little disappointed with the outcome.
Not that the film was terrible mind, because it has a sound enough storyline. I just felt that the action was somewhat rushed and that Captain Americas appearance in the Avengers film will do the character more justice than his first outing.
However apart from the grumbles the opening part of the film was kind of neat, as you see a superimposed Chris Evans face grafted onto a skinny version of Rogers who is eager to get into the Army to prove his worth.
Rogers shows a great amount of determination, despite his weedy persona, that this eventually catches the eye of the scientist mentioned in the opening paragraphs. After his transformation into Captain America you immediately get to see his patriotism in action as he rescues a civilian. Sadly his gifts are then absorbed by the top brass in government and Captain America is used as promo tool to encourage more civilians to join the army.
In the meantime running in parallel to this is the story of the Nazi officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) who is on the hunt for ancient mystical relics to create super weapons for the Nazi army. This part reminds me of the computer game Return to Castle Wolfenstein which was based on thwarting the advances of the SS Paranormal Division.
Without giving too much away Captain America eventually tires of being used as a monkey for the US government and decides to unleash his super hero like powers by attempting a rescue of his childhood friend from a Nazi camp - who just so happens to be in control by the above Nazi officer.
This catapults the film a touch as you discover that Schmidt is not who he seems to be, but to me the action - whilst there was cool gunfights in places – still felt somewhat limited to Rogers - aka Captain America - wielding his shield around and making heroic poses to the camera.
Also CGI effects were not as good as they could have been for a 2011 film and the main bad guy (Hugo) was somewhat underutilised and a little less menacing compared to arch nemeses you see in other films.
Still there is some nice supporting characters in the form of Tommy Lee Jones who plays Colonel Chester Phillips and appearances by Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), who’s name may be familiar to fans of Iron Man, turns this into a respectable film and one that leads up nicely to this years Avengers.
However it's not what I would call a Blockbuster film and some of the leading characters do not shine as much as they should have done.
This is definitely a rent before you buy movie, so you can make your own mind up.
